Hi ho all!
I am homebound for this BF weekend. No, there's nothing wrong, just lack of funds (it's that starving artist persona). So while I sit here, reading the texts from my friends who ARE in Lexington, I am starting two new ponies & working on the existing WIPs.
I started two MM scale OSs yesterday. AND I took pictures along the way so I could write the first tutorial of my new blog! Are you proud of me? ;) It is hard to stop & take pictures!
Disclaimer (don't be scared!): This is a tutorial on how I make a MM. You may do it totally different! & that's ok! There are no rules to sculpting a model horse other than it must look like a horse & preferably hold up fairly well (as in playdough is probably not the best medium for sculpting a MM, though someone may find it works perfectly for them!). So never be afraid to experiment & forge your own path! You may break some exciting new ground! Even if it's only for your own sculpting, it will be worth it!
OK! Here goes!
Supplies are:
* An Idea
* Paper, I just used note book paper
* A pencil with a good eraser
* Wire, I'm not precisely certain of the gauge of this stuff, between 24 & 34. I've had it for years & bought it for something else actually (look for the small gauges in the jewelry isle at the craft store)
* Wire cutters or scissors
* A+B epoxy putty
* Aves Fixit epoxy putty (or Aves Apoxy Sculpt)
* Water
* Something to sculpt with, your fingers are too big to smooth say, in between the legs! You could probably use a pencil or something. My favorite tool is the 'etching' tool from one of those craft store etch a picture thingies. I got one for Christmas one year, kept the tool & ditched the kit!
* Carbide Scraper (from Rio Rondo. Money well spent, trust me! & get ALL of the tips!)
* Sand paper, about 600 grit (look for the fine grits for automotive detailing)
* Needle Files, especially a small round. A flat & half round would be a good idea also. (Note that I have no clue if these are their actual names! ;) )
* I may add more as I think of them!
I decided to do an Abaco Barb; it is the rarest horse breed in the world with only one mare, Nunki, left. They are a really amazing old Spanish breed that has lived feral for over 200 years on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. Just to challenge myself, I decided to do a mare & a teeny filly to go with her. I've never done a MM foal before! I'm looking foreword to it!
Once I have my breed, pose, etc. & whatnot chosen, I sketch it out. I draw a 3" x 3" square, this is just to show the scale of what I'm working on in the in-progress pictures; I show a MM at the Fair in the Miniature class in art every year, & they have to be under 3" x 3"... I've got that part down easy with a MM! In the square I sketch the horse I have in my mind, they are never particularly GOOD sketches, but they don't need to be. All they need to be is as close as possible to the real life size & corresponding proportions of the model I am hoping to create. This is, in essence, my blue print, as I will use it to build the armature & begin the sculpting.
Then twist (or braid if you wish), the three strands together so you have a back length twist in the middle of your wires. You will want the 'non-twisted' wire ends to be about where your legs will start, not too far back & not too far forward.